


The Nightwatch

by Aerylon



Category: Transformers - All Media Types
Genre: Fluff pure simple fluff, Other
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-07-21
Updated: 2015-07-21
Packaged: 2018-04-10 10:30:51
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,283
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4388384
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Aerylon/pseuds/Aerylon
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>One of our favorite bots learns how to appreciate the little things in life while stargazing.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Nightwatch

**Author's Note:**

> Its a clean-up of an old fic. I figure it was time to bring it back. Don't worry its been polished and all shiny now! Hope you guys enjoy it!

The night was darker than most; the moon having already faded to new. The air was crisp and the few leaves still clinging to the trees rustled as the breeze danced through them. 

The young woman sat on the edge of the boulder, one leg dangling over the edge, the other pulled up against her chest. The wind played with her hair; the occasional tendril needing to be swept from her face by delicate fingers. Her cheeks rosy, she sat on the cold stone and stared into the velvet sky. 

“You’re not very subtle, ya know,” she stated matter-of-factly.

“I wasn’t trying to be,” the mech said as he approached, the chilled grass crushing beneath his pedes. “What are you doing out here? Half the base has been looking for you.”

“Meteor shower.”

“Huh?”

“Meteor shower,” she said again, pointing towards the night sky.

“Oh.”

"Did you know we call them "shooting stars"? That people make wishes on them? They're a very special kind of magic and they say wishes made on shooting stars always come true." 

The sparkle in her eyes rivaled the ones in the heavens as she spoke.

"I do now," he replied, finding the notion of wishes being granted by cosmic debris burning through the atmosphere was simultaneously humorous and completely absurd.

He noticed when she pulled her other leg up to fight the chill brushing against her skin. And how she wrapped her arms around her legs, while her bright eyes darted across the night sky; searching. It took him a moment to realize that the rosy glow had deepened and was spreading higher across her cheeks.

“You know you _could_ watch this on one of the monitors inside. It’d be warmer … and safer.”

“But that’s not the point of being out here.”

“The point of being out here is to become hypothermic?” His voice tinged with sarcasm.

“No,” she said. “The point is to enjoy the world around you. Enjoy the little things that only come by once in a lifetime. Each meteor streaks across the sky in a fiery splendor just once before flickering out – gone forever." 

“Yes, I know that’s what meteors do.”

“Video’s not the same – it’s just … playback,” her tone simple as she spoke. “You can’t feel the wind. You can’t smell the air. You can’t taste the rain. It’s not a memory. It’s just … well ... _playback._ ”

“I see,” he said as he sat next to her on the rock, feeling just how hard and cold it really was for the first time. He wondered how she could stand to sit on it, to feel its harshness against her soft form. She really was an odd little creature, but maybe that’s why he was drawn to her. “You would prefer to stay out here, and be cold, just so the memory has meaning?”

“Something like that,” she said, drawing her hands up inside her sleeves and folding them over one another. 

He watched her as she kept her eyes trained on the night sky. Maybe she was right. Meteors were little lights racing through the darkness of the universe, brightly lit, but only for a few brief moments before they faded away into memories. Even if unintended, it was quite the metaphor for their relationship. The part he preferred not to dwell on.

He cycled in air, expelling it through his vents in a long, metallic sigh. She shivered as the warm air drew across her skin, before drifting away again.

“C’mere,” he said, wrapping a large gunmetal hand around her, pulling her closer to him.

“No!” she protested, “I want to stay and watch! This is supposed to be the best meteor shower in years. And Perceptor said there wouldn’t be another one like it for at least 50 years, and, well, that’s an awful long time to have to wait!”

Her words stung at his spark. 

“I didn’t say you had to go,” he whispered, fighting back the static edging into his vocalizer.

“Good. Cos I wouldn’t ya know.” Her words playfully defiant.

He continued to observe her in silence. Making note of the way her hair blew about in the wind. Committing to memory the soft outline of her lips, the fire in her cheeks, and the undying passion in her eyes. Savoring the way her perfume drifted and swirled on the air around her. 

“You know that’s kinda creepy, don’t cha?” 

“What is?”

“You. Staring at me like that. I’m not gonna vanish before your eyes. You don’t need to keep them on me at all times.”

“Hmmpphhh… I suppose that’s why half the base has been looking for you?”

“I didn’t vanish. I just went out in the backyard for a while. There's a big difference.”

He couldn’t help but snicker at her reply. He rolled his optics and sighed - a habit she'd blessed him with somewhere along the way. She relaxed momentarily in his hand, enjoying the heated air, and shivering again when his warmth left her. 

“I don’t suppose you bothered to bring a jacket with you?”

“Nah,” she replied waving a hand at him. “Where’s the fun in that?”

He snickered again and shook his helm. 

“Oh, and no shoes or socks either, I see.”

“Yeah. I wore them out here, but they fell down there somewhere,” she replied, motioning toward the ravine just below the edge of the boulder with a flick of her hand.

“What am I supposed to do with you?” he asked, the ends of his lips curling into a tender smile.

“Dunno. Smile and nod?” she replied with a shrug of her shoulders.

He sighed again, and she shivered again. Wrapping both hands around her, he lifted her off the rock.

“Hey! I said I wanted to stay!” She struggled weakly in his grasp; more for show than anything else.

“And you will,” he said as he set her down on the warm metal plating that formed his lap, “but I’m gonna make sure you’re warm enough. No sense in having Ratchet turn my plates inside out for letting you get sick ... again.”

For the first time since he had joined her, she looked away from the night sky, and up into his optics. Their soft, blue glow warmed her heart as he wrapped his arms around her and lightly caressed her cheek. She returned his smile with her own.

“You gonna help me find ‘em?”

“Even if it means we’re out here all night,” his words a soft whisper as he rested his chincap on the top of her head.

“I’d like that,” she replied, leaning back against him and curling his fingers tighter around her. Her eyes fluttered and she let his warmth penetrate her to the core. The two of them momentarily lost in peace.

“There goes one!” she yelled, sitting bolt upright in his lap, pointing at the blue and orange fireball blazing a path just above the horizon. “Isn’t it beautiful?”

“Mmhmm…” he murmured quietly.

“It’s only here for a second and then it’s gone! Forever! But the memory of it … that, THAT will stay with you forever and ever till there are no more evers!“ 

His smile widened with her boundless enthusiasm. She smiled sweetly in return and snuggled back in against his warmth.

 _Only for a moment_ , he thought, _but oh, what a beautiful moment._

He kissed the top of her head, and she purred. 

“Thank you for staying with me.”

A sharp pain danced around the edge of his spark as her words registered. Dimming his optics, he whispered, “Thank you for sharing this with me."

Deep in his spark he hoped that wishes made on shooting stars really did come true.


End file.
